What Makes a Good Piano Tuning
Piano Tuning is a funny thing. The late Dr. Albert Sanderson - who invented the first Electronic Tuning Device or ETD - was enamored of the piano, but he ran into a problem. A physics professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, he tuned his piano perfectly mathematically, and it sounded horrible. He then enrolled himself at the North Bennet Street School in Boston's North End, studying the art of piano tuning, and ultimately deciphering the Piano Tuner's secret code. He learned that Piano Tuning involves mathematical compromise, and Dr. Sanderson turned this compromise into an algorithm. However, while his work was seminal, it was only about pitch. Piano Tuners also have a way a turning and setting the tuning pins such that the tuning holds as long as possible.
This is one of the components of "stability." Setting the pin properly, and "rendering" the strings such that each of the 4-8 segments of each string are even in tension was not part of Dr. Sanderson's algorithm. Another neat trick piano tuners can do - if they are so inclined - is to set individual strings such that they ring more clearly, sustain longer, and produce overtones or harmonics with greater clarity and volume. Many clients say their piano "rings more" or "rings like a bell" after a tuning using this technique.Then there is the lowly unison. Many tuners strive for a perfect "zero beat" unison, even though there is no such thing as perfect. As a matter of fact, there is nothing perfect about piano tuning at all! It's all about that compromise, and what some call tonal projection.
At the highest level - the Signature Tuning level - I don't just tune your piano to itself, I'm tuning your piano to your room. Crazy, right? It's crazy enough to be controversial.
While attending an advanced training course at a major manufacturer's offices, my small class of 5 was told about a convention seminar our trainers gave on these pin setting techniques. The conversation went south rather quickly because many piano tuners weren't buying their research, even though it was based on aural tuning (not machine or ETD) and millions of dollars in research. Maybe they couldn't hear the difference, but whatever the reason, these technicians from a company with one of the largest R&D budgets for all things music were nearly chased away with pitchforks and torches. It's a funny business I guess, but as a musician and tuner, I still err on the side of science and sound. It's served me well.
